Boundaries
by the-littlest-pumpkin
Summary: Eighth in Series. Santana can't resist staying just five minutes more; but every action has a consequence. Thankfully, Brittany has a plan.


"Okay Britts, it's like 11:06..." she sat up and trailed off as the blonde's kisses made their way back up her neck to her jaw

"So? Can't you stay...?" Brittany whined, pulling back to look at the brunette. Santana sighed. "Come on, it's summer. Just stay" she pouted and Santana's resistance crumbled

"You know I can't stay. I'm going to see my Abuela tomorrow with my parents and I promised I'd be back by eleven! I'm already late as it is!" she slid her arms from around the blonde's neck to cup her face. She leaned forwards and kissed Brittany's pout, smiling when the blonde smiled into the kiss before pulling away

"I know. Five more minutes?" she batted her eyelashes and Santana groaned

"That's not fair! How could I say no to that? Okay five minutes, but I'm gonna be in so much trouble!" Brittany gave a triumphant woop and pushed Santana back so she was laid on the bed once again, laying her body flush against the brunette's. They were silent for a few minutes before Santana felt her phone buzz "Britts, my phone. It might be my mom"

"Okay, okay" Brittany pouted and sat back on her haunches. Her eyes travelled down the girl's almost naked torso, and she bit her lip through her grin "You are beautiful." She smiled, and Santana giggled, blushing as she checked her phone.

**Home. Now. Grounded.**

Her smile quickly faded into a frown of worry and the blonde raised an eyebrow "Oh God, is it bad?"

"It was my papi. Not mami. So that's bad. Apparently I'm grounded. But, I dunno, I'm probably not, I never usually am." Santana bit her lip "But I r_eally _need to get home now"

"Okay. I miss you already" Santana slid off the bed and bent down to pick her t-shirt up from the floor. She pulled it swiftly over her head as she pulled her sneakers on, before leaning in and giving the blonde a chaste kiss before bolting out the door. She jumped down the last few steps, calling a goodbye to the Peirces in the living room, and jumped the porch steps as she left. She swung her leg over her bike and rode home as fast as her legs would take her, arriving home way past her curfew. She lifted her bike onto the porch and opened the door quietly.

The house was silent. Maybe her parents had already gone o bed, and wouldn't know how late she was. She slipped off her trainers to minimise the amount of noise she was making, and turned to creep towards the stairs. The lamp flicked on.

"What time is it?" She turned slowly, her shoulders slumping as she took in the sight of her dad sat in his chair. The scene was so cliché it would have been comical, if it weren't for his tone of voice. This couldn't end well.

"It is...11:18. I'm sorry" she didn't dare meet his eyes

"Hm. What time was your curfew again?" he stood up, walking towards her slowly

"Eleven. I said, I'm sorry. I'm just so-"

"Ah." He held up a finger and she stopped talking abruptly "I don't want to hear it. We've never tried to stop you and Brittany doing anything. And there have been very few occasions when you've made us regret that. Very few. And I'm proud of you for that."

"I know, and I'm sorry I've let you down this time bu-" her father held up his finger again

"We _never _usually give you a curfew. We just trust you to get home safe, or to let us know if you're staying over. But we're visiting your Abuela tomorrow, and this _one time w_e wanted you home early enough to get a good night's sleep because it's important that you're not grumpy tomorrow. And you let us down, Santana. We set boundaries for a reason, when necessary, and expect you to stick to them"

"I know" she felt tears start to spring up. She hated it when her dad yelled, but it was even worse when his voice went all quiet and he was disappointed. Ugh. If only parents had never worked out that being disappointed makes you feel worse than them being angry. "I'm sorry. I promise I won't be grumpy tomorrow"

"Oh no, you will be." He nodded "We're setting off at ten. If you'd been back, I would have woken you at half nine. Tomorrow you'll be up at half eight-"

"What? That's not fair, it's only ten minutes!" she pouted

"Half seven. You can do the laundry for your mother instead of having your sleep in. Do you want to keep arguing?" he shrugged with a polite smile

"No way, half seven? This isn't fair; I was only around the corner! I wouldn't even be asleep yet anyway and..." she threw her arms up in protest and her father held up his finger again and she trailed off

"Half seven, and grounded for three days. And I'm including Brittany in that. Do you want to keep arguing and I'll take your phone too?"

She sighed "No."

"Go to bed." She turned on her feel and padded up to her bedroom, sighing heavily as she flopped down on the bed. Well that was just freaking great. She changed moodily, pulling out her phone as she climbed into bed

**How bad is it? Sorry :/ love you B xxxxx**

**Grounded. 3 days. Including you :'( S xxxxx**

**Omg I'm so sorry! Ugh. Taking your phone? :/ xxxxxx**

**No, thankfully. Need sleep, dad says up at half 7 too :( xxxxx**

**Awh sweetie. Sorry. Sweet dreams love you San xxxxxx**

**Its okay. Sleep tight britts, love you more gorgeous xxxxx**

She sighed as she plugged her phone in to charge and laid back against the pillows. Three days without Brittany. Jesus.

-ooOoo-

"Hey Mija! You look beautiful this morning!" Her father bellowed in her ear and she shot upright

"Oh my God, what are you doing?" she rubbed her eyes and cowered away as he bent over her bed with a beaming smile

"Well, it's seven thirty, silly! Time to get up. Rise and shine!" he swung an arm around her shoulders and shook her forcefully

"Mama, save me!" she groaned but her mother just laughed from the doorway, holding a laundry basket in her arms

"Oh no. Don't you bring me into this, you brought it on yourself. By the way, this is for you" she grinned and placed the laundry basket on the floor by Santana's door "I'd like them washing by colour please, not just lights and darks. Thanks, chica" she winked and walked off down the hall and Santana groaned

"Get up. Now." Her father grinned and made to leave the room, "Oh one more thing. That's not all of my laundry." He indicated the basket "Enjoy finding the rest."

She sighed as he closed the door and threw herself back onto the bed with a loud groan. Her father chuckled from outside the door.

-ooOoo-

"You know what, mija?" Her father glanced at her in the rear view mirror and she raised an eyebrow "Because you did the laundry without complaint, I will let you nap on the way to your Abuela's"

"Am I still grounded?" she asked with a sweet grin

"Yes." He answered sternly and she sighed, bumping her head against the window and shutting her eyes. They woke her an hour later when they arrived, and Santana stretched as she stepped out of the car with a big yawn.

"Santana!" a voice drifted across the garden and Santana's yawn became a grin as she saw the old woman crossing towards her

"Abuela!" she walked towards the woman and was immediately wrapped into a tight hug. She shut her eyes and inhaled deeply, smelling the woman's familiar scent and smiling to herself as her father looked on fondly.

"It feels like forever! How are you? Have you grown again?" the woman held her at arms length and looked her up and down, "Oh, so beautiful! You look just like me when I was young!"

"No, not a patch on you I'm sure! And I'm great, enjoying the summer! How are you?" she grinned as her Abuela turned to greet her parents

"Better now! Come on, everybody inside. I made paella for dinner" she led them al in the house and Santana fist pumped behind her back

"Yuss!" she grinned at her father who gave her a soft push into the house, and jumped in the air with a little dance as she followed up the porch steps.

-ooOoo-

"Well hey there, stranger" Brittany grinned into the phone "How was your day?"

"Awesome as always! Abuela made paella and dessert and we all caught up and it was awesome" she grinned as she changed

"Ooh your favourite. And were you woken up at seven?" Brittany's voice rang out on speakerphone from the bedside table

"Ugh. Yes. Papi woke me up by screaming and made me do all the laundry. But at least he let me sleep in the car, which is better than nothing"

"Awh, that's okay then. I'm glad you had a good day, although I did miss you" Santana could almost hear her pout

"I missed you too. What have you done today?" she flicked the lamp on and turned out the light

"I just hung out With Q. We went to the pool with Mercedes and Tina. It was fun, not as much as if you'd been there though" Brittany shrugged

"Well, we could go next week when I'm not grounded?" she laid on the bed before tucking her feet under the covers and wriggling down "Ugh, feels weird trying to sleep without you fo the second night in a row"

"I know, right? I hate it. And yeah next week sounds good, it's been a while since I've seen you in a bathing suit" the blonde winked "I just winked, by the way. But I forgot you can't see"

Santana giggled "Well same to you. Next week it is. Okay, I'm so tired from today so I need my beauty sleep. I love you"

"You don't, because it's impossible for you to be more beautiful. But goodnight. I love you too" she made kissing noises down the phone and giggled when she heard Santana laugh before hanging up.

-ooOoo-

"Mami, can I _please _go see Brittany today?" She was leaning on the counter next to her mother, resting her chin on her hands and pouting up at the older woman

"No. You know the rules. You broke curfew, and your papi made the rules, and I'm not breaking them." She said firmly and Santana huffed

"But I'm bored."

"Well then go do something. Watch a film, draw, paint, read a book!" her mother waved her wooden spoon wildly as she stood over the stove

"I don't want to. I want to see Brittany." She stood up and crossed to the table, slumping down in a chair

"Well I don't care. This is how punishment feels, Santana. Now if you're going to keep huffing, get out of my kitchen!" Santana tutted and dragged herself out of the room and up the stairs. She now understood how that guy felt in that film with the ball and the wall and the tally chart. She was getting cabin fever from staring at the same four walls of her bedroom all day. And it was only 5pm, she still had all night. She sighed and flicked the TV on as her phone buzzed

**Busy tonight? B xxx**

**Only dying of boredom. S xx**

**I have a surprise for you ;) B xxx**

**What is it? S xxxx**

**Britt? What surprise? Xxx**

**Brittany! What are you talking about? Xxx**

**Ugh. Xxxx**

She still hadn't received a reply at eight when she returned to her bedroom after dinner. She sat on the bed staring at the ceiling, and twisting her mouth with thought. This grounded thing sucked. There was nothing to do. She stood up and crossed to the bookcase, bending down and trailing a finger across the books. Oh who was she kidding? She wasn't going to read any of them, she wasn't Quinn. _Knock. _She frowned as she looked around the room. _Knock knock._

"What the..." she could hear her parents talking downstairs, but stood to poke her head around the door. The hallway was empty. _Knock knock knock._

"...God?"

"Psst! San!" she raised an eyebrow

"Who is that?" she looked around the room, wide-eyed

"It's me" the voice was louder this time, and she pushed the door closed

"Where are you?"

"Here!" Oh, this was getting creepy.

"How are you doing this? Who are you?" she held her arms up as she spun around

"Out here, you moron!" she turned to the window. Well this was creepy. She reached a hand out to pull back the curtains. Oh God, if there was a scream mask out there she would actually die. Oh this was it. Her finally moments. Oh God. She pulled the curtain back and saw a familiar blonde face. She breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the window up

"Holy shit, Britts you scared the hell out of me!" The blonde was balanced on the slanting garage rood, half of her face peeking over the window sill. "What are you doing?"

"Rescuing you!" Brittany beamed, "Come on, we're sneaking you out!"

"Brittany no way, my parents would kill me! Did you cycle here? You didn't leave your bike out front did you?" She tried to peer down over the garage but Brittany just laughed

"Of course not, it's round the side so they won't see. Now go tell them you're going to bed, stuff the bed full of clothes or pillows or whatever they do on TV and come on!"

"Brittany..."

"Come on! We always used to!"

"I don't know..." she chewed on her bottom lip with a frown, before looking down at the blonde, who was grinning with a raised eyebrow, "...Ugh, okay fine!" she grinned before leaving the room, closing the door quietly and descending the stairs. "Hey, I'm going to go straight to bed."

"Are you feeling okay baby?" her mother looked at her, concerned

"Yeah just bored and tired so, might as well go to bed" she shrugged "Night guys" she forced herself not to run up to her bedroom, and broke out giggling once she got there. She pulled on sneakers and a hoody and stuffed the bed, turning off the light before climbing out of the window. As she slid the window down, she heard the blonde whistling The Great Escape behind her, and giggled as she left a pair of socks stuffed between the window and the frame to stop is from sliding close. Oh God, that would be horrific. Oh God, so much could go wrong with this plan. Oh God, Brittany looked cute.

"Come on. I'll go down first, then I can catch you if you fall"

"That's cute but I'm the top of the pyramid and I've done this a thousand times. I think I'll manage!" she give Brittany a sarcastic thumbs up and the blonde rolled her eyes. They both sat down and shimmied down the roof, dropping cat-like onto the grass, in perfect unison. "Nice" Santana winked, and crept around the side of the house to lift her bike over the porch railing, with Brittany's help.. They jumped on and cycled down the street as quickly as they could, only stopping when they were three streets away.

"Oh my god! We did it!" Brittany grinned, panting

"I know! Okay, what are we going to do?" Santana shrugged "The night is young"

"Ooh, let's get go Quinn! Like when we were little!" Brittany clapped her hands and Santana deliberated for a few seconds before grinning

"Okay let's do it! Come on" They set off at a slightly lower pace, and reached Quinn's house within ten minutes. "Should we just ring the doorbell? She's not grounded, and her mom probably won't mind us showing up unannounced"

"Oh, come on Santana! Where's the fun in that?" Brittany grinned as she abandoned her bike on the patch of grass next to the house, "Wow. This tree looks so much smaller than it did when we were like, nine."

"I know right. I might not even need a boost!" Santana grinned and ran towards the tree. She planted a foot firmly on the trunk and reached up for the closest branch. Her fingertips scraped the bark and she stretched as far as possible before gravity brought her back down, and she landed flat on her back on the grass "Ooph." Brittany's upside-down face smirked down at her

"So...the tree isn't t_hat _much smaller huh?" she chuckled and Santana pouted, before the blonde lifted her to her feet, "Come on" she held out her linked palms and Santana used her hands as a step to grab the closest branch. She used her upper body strength to pull her up, and squatted on the branch before climbing to the next one up to make room for Brittany. The blonde easily jumped and grabbed onto a branch, swinging from side to side before linking a leg over the branch and pulling herself up.

"You'd better go first, Britt. You'll be able to reach the window better" the blonde snorted and shook her head as she stepped onto Santana's branch and shimmied around her to climb onto the next one. She found the familiar hand-hold and pulled herself up to the next branch, Santana following behind. They reached the branch closest to Quinn's window and sat side-by-side, shimmying along until they were as close as possible.

"Okay, are you okay?" the blonde breathed deeply

"Yeah. I'm good." Santana grinned

The blonde reached forward, her knuckles centimetres from the glass. Santana gasped, her eyes growing comically wide, and slapped Brittany's shoulder. "Agh!" Brittany squealed as she over balanced, leaning back dangerously far as her arms swung in circles, and Santana grabbed her by the shoulder, before the blonde's elbow made contact with the branch behind, her other hand grasping the branch underneath her to pull her back into a sitting position.

"What are you doing?" Brittany demanded, clutching at her chest "I nearly died!"

Santana snickered before forcing her face straight again, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! But look!" she pointed at the window, craning her head to an odd angle, as Brittany frowned, confused

"What? The curtains are closed what are you talking about?"

"Jesus I hope no one looks up now. We look like big gay perverts" Santana muttered, as Brittany leaned from side to side, frowning as she tried to see between the gap in the curtains

"I can't see, shimmy over!" They scooted along the branch, arms locked to carry them along in identical movement, and Brittany craned her head like Santana had, as the brunette frowned trying to find a new viewpoint "Oh. My. God."

"Chandler Bing" Santana buttered to herself, before finding the gap in the curtains and smirking to herself "Bingo."

"Who is that?" Brittany frowned, and she shrugged. The view was blocked by the back of Quinn's head, and all she could see was Quinn laid beside another body

"Seems little Miss Celibacy Club ain't so pure." She smirked

"What? They're not having sex!" the blonde squinted

"No, but it's hardly bible studies in there, is it?" Santana glanced at the blonde, who chuckled

"Ooh, wait! They're getting up!" the slapped the blonde's arm excitedly and the mysterious character came into view as Quinn leaned in for a goodbye kiss. Brittany's eyes grew as she pulled her arm away from the brunette's grip, and Santana's mouth dropped open in horror,

"Is that-"

"No freaking way"

"My eyes!"

"Oh my God."

"Cannot unsee!"

They stared through the gap, wide-eyed and open mouthed before turning to look at each other. Santana looked like she was going to cry, whilst Brittany looked mildly disgusted. "We need to _stop _seeing Man Hands kissing people!" Santana grimaced

"Why does this keep happening to un, San?" the blonde looked down sadly, "Is this karma?"

"I don't know, Britts. I just don't know." She rubbed the girl's back comfortingly and they were silent for a few moments. She took a deep breath and turned back to the window to peek through the curtain once again, "Okay, man hands is gone. It's just Q."

"So, Rachel and Quinn, huh?" Brittany stared back through the window, frowning thoughtfully

"I know. What the hell?" she grimaced at the mental picture as she watched Quinn. The blonde stood in her room, and took a deep breath, releasing it slowly as she smiled to herself. She sat down slowly on the bed before allowing a wide smile to cross her face.

"She looks happy." Brittany shrugged and Santana nodded, "It _is _kind of cute"

"It's not cute. It's Man Hands and Q"

"Yeah but...it's better than _Finchel _right?" the blonde said the name with venom, and Santana tilted her head from side to side as she debated, before relenting with a nod

"Still though, I repeat, _what the hell?_" she said wide-eyed, and Brittany giggled

"Well let's find out!" She snapped the end off a small twig and threw it at the window

"What are you doing?" Santana demanded, grabbing her wrist as the blonde pulled it back to throw another

"Doing what we came here to do! Before we went all Mission Impossible!" Brittany snatched her arm away and threw another twig at the window. Santana squinted and saw Quinn frowning inside the room. She followed Brittany's actions, and they watched as the blonde crossed to the window. Quinn pulled back the curtain with a confused frown, and screamed as she saw the two faces staring back at her, clamping a hand over her mouth. She leaned forward and pushed open the window furiously

"What the h_ell a_re you doing? You terrified me!" she demanded as Brittany and Santana sat silently side by side. "Why are you grinning like that? And why are you dressed identically?" Quinn's angry frown became a quirked eyebrow of bemusement and the girls in the tree looked down. Santana was wearing white sneakers, grey jeans and her green American Apparel hoody, whilst the blonde wore white high-tops, grey sweatpants and her matching red hoody.

"Oh yeah. Awh" Brittany smiled and Santana sighed

"Really? _This _is our issue right now?" she waved her hands between them and Brittany gave an embarrassed smile

"Alright, calm down Tweedle-Dum. What are you doing?" she crossed her arms and sighed impatiently

"We could ask you the same thing" Brittany snorted, and Santana smirked

"Well, I'm grounded and Brittany went all Prison Break. We came to get you to join our little escapades-"

"But seems you were busy!" Brittany cut in, raising an eyebrow at the now blushing blonde

"I, no we were just, uh, like, we were just studying" Quinn stuttered

"Ha! In the summer? Studying what?" Santana countered, watching the blonde's mouth hanging open

"French?" Brittany grinned, and Quinn rolled her eyes

"Hey, Thing 1, Thing2! Why are you still in my tree?" she slapped her palms down on the window sill

"Because you won't move so we can get in!" Santana gestured at the window and Quinn sighed heavily before side stepping out of the way reluctantly, and the girls repeated their earlier actions, shimmying across the branch in unison, ignoring Quinn's eye rolling. Brittany extended a leg to the window sill and pulled herself across using another branch, slipping into the room quietly. Santana's leg would not reach, meaning she had to step onto an extra branch below and pulled herself up to crawl through the window. Brittany grabbed her under her arms and pulled her through, and Santana landed on her hands and knees on the floor.

Quinn's eyebrow rose involuntarily "Smooth. You know, we really need to set some boundaries here"

"Shut up." Santana got to her feet and folded her arms. Brittany copied her gesture with a smirk "Anyway, you have some telling to do."

"About what?"

"Q. We saw you and Rachel. What happened?" Brittany grinned and jumped back onto the bed, kicking off her sneakers as she did so. Quinn sighed and sat down beside her as Santana turned and sat cross-legged on the floor.

"She came over to study."

"Why?" Santana frowned

"Because I asked her to. We've been talking more since her party, like on facebook and stuff. And she asked if I wanted to hang out today, but obviously I was this you guys" Brittany nodded "So I asked if she wanted to come over later, maybe watch a movie or something. And then we were just talking and stuff"

"Yeah. It looked like talking." Santana rolled her eyes "Just tell us, we saw you two making googley eyes at each other during the blackout, so cut the crap."

"Quinn sighed "So we were just sat on my bed, and she was talking but I wasn't really listening. Like, because she's really pretty. Why did we not notice that?"

"I did."

"Because she's not." The two girls spoke in unison and Quinn rolled her eyes

"Just shut up and let me tell you the story." Santana sighed as Quinn took a breath and began to talk. 

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while since the last story but here you go, thank you for sticking with me despite my distractions!<strong>

**Glad to know I've made some of you smile, and I have some more ideas so there will be more to come, although if anyone else has any ideas or scenarios feel free to let me know. The next story should probably be up this week. So thank you very much to everyone who's been reviewing, especially jojobean and moosey, all the reviews mean a lot to me and I always appreciate the feedback :D**


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